Dear Editor:
The beautiful Yarn Bomb art pieces attached to trees at the Sawdust, made by nine mothers and grandmothers calling themselves the Twisted Stitchers, were targeted and maliciously hacked down last Wednesday by unknown persons associated with the Sawdust Festival. This was intentional and vicious. No one is claiming responsibility; no police report was filed.
It was no secret that a few artists of the Sawdust Festival were angry about the Yarn Pieces installation having been unanimously approved by the board. So much so, that on about July 6 a special board meeting was called concerning the Twisted Stitchers Project and the majority vote was to have the Yarn pieces removed by July 11. Great news articles about the Yarn Bomb art installation were released that weekend and mentioned the pieces would be removed by July 11.
On July 11, our group showed up and was removing the Yarn Pieces, as requested; however, the Sawdust general manager saw us and approached me saying, “Don’t take any more Yarn Pieces down. Leave the rest up; everything is ok.” We were very happy to hear that. And so the Yarn Art Pieces, with approval, remained attached to trees and posts at the entrance, food court and music areas.
Having been warned on Aug. 1, that the yarn pieces were beginning to be vandalized, our group of Twisted Stitchers arrived on Aug. 4, during our lunch break, to remove all of our pieces, only to be shocked to learn that just the day or night before, persons associated with the Sawdust Festival had taken it upon themselves to viciously remove and trash every piece. That is horrifying! Whoever took them down did not even have the courtesy to bag them and leave them at the Sawdust offices for club members to retrieve them. [It is important to note that during the opening days of the Sawdust Festival, one booth person was already defacing and mutilating a piece, which on three separate occasions I had to repair.]
All of this is so disturbing and awful. It appears to me that there was some bit of miscommunications going on, but nothing justifies this type of behavior towards other artists! Especially an approved, innocent, volunteer, donated project like ours. A board member told me, it’s criminal what happened. Who would believe something like this could happen in our art colony, Laguna Beach? We can only hope the persons responsible are identified and the appropriate actions are taken!
Twisted Stitchers member Michelle Boyd, Laguna Beach
